Met officer ‘so drunk he couldn’t walk straight’ after drinking wine on duty

A police officer was “so intoxicated that he could not walk straight” after drinking wine on duty, a misconduct panel has found.

The officer has since left the Metropolitan Police – but would have been fired if he had not done so, the panel found.

Former detective constable Sean Brierley was told on the evening of 2 July 2025 that a suspect at Leyton police station was not yet available to be interviewed.

Mr Brierly then went to Gravity Well Taproom in Leyton, east London.

The panel’s ruling said he could be seen ordering three glasses of white wine in two hours in footage from the bar.

CCTV showed him “unsteady on his feet”, “staggering” and “off balance” when he returned to the police station later that evening, the panel heard on 12 February.

A custody sergeant gave evidence that Mr Brierley had “smelt drunk”, and other staff reported his speech had been “slurred”, the ruling said.

Summarising her findings, panel chair Commander Katie Lilburn wrote: “The fact that the former officer was so intoxicated that he could not walk straight meant that he was unfit to deal with a prisoner in custody, which was the purpose of him being at the police station.”

The panel heard that Mr Brierley’s colleagues had been so concerned about his state that they had arranged a welfare check at his home later that night.

Officers who attended his address about 12.20am “found him lying in his bed in a pair of boxer shorts, with the duvet pulled off him” and said he “looked very disoriented and was staring at the ceiling in a glazed manner”, the ruling said.

Mr Brierley told the officers he was okay, but did not ask why they were there or make any attempts to cover his body or sit up in bed, the panel heard.

Commander Lilburn added: “I found that the former officer’s actions were intentional, deliberate, and planned. He chose to go to the Taproom and consume alcohol when he was on duty.

“Being intoxicated whilst on duty in a police station and in a custody suite, with the attendant risks, is especially dangerous.”

The panel concluded that Mr Brierley’s actions amounted to gross misconduct and he would have been dismissed had he not left the force.